Stars coach scouts for new players in USA

July 5, 2017113 Views

Black Stars coach, Kwasi Appiah, has embarked on a two-week overseas scouting after his side’s disturbing losses to Mexico and USA in the US last week.

Instead of joining Ghana’s contingent back home yesterday, Coach Appiah decided to stay on in the US and monitor some fresh Ghanaian talents he discovered during the trip.
Disclosing this to the Graphic Sports in an exclusive interview yesterday, the Stars coach stopped short of mentioning the names of his new ‘catches’, but merely hinted that the exercise would last for about two weeks.

“I’m still in the States trying to monitor some other players here instead of returning home and embarking on that exercise later,” he revealed.

Asked who those discoveries were, the ‘Silent Killer’ laughed gently and simply said it was premature to reveal the identity of the players now.

“I’m keeping it a secret. Hopefully, in two weeks I’ll be able to monitor all the players,” he said.

Well known US-based players such as Harrison Afful, Jonathan Mensah, David Accam and Mohammed Abu featured in the two friendlies but Coach Appiah needs more time to assess others like striker Kwadwo Poku and Gershon Koffie, among others, who did not get the chance to prove themselves.

Despite drawing blank in the chaotic trip which saw the Ghanaian contingent flying from Houston to Connecticut in batches, the Stars coach still described the exercise as very fruitful in his team-building effort.

“It was very, very fruitful. At least, six of the new players did well, but, I will keep monitoring them at their various clubs,” Kwasi Appiah disclosed satisfactorily.

Travelling without regulars such as Dede Ayew, Jordan Ayew, Daniel Amartey and injured Afriyie Acquah, the new-look Stars were impressive against a makeshift side, but were wasteful upfront, losing 0-1 in the end.

And against rivals USA last Saturday, skipper Asamoah Gyan missed a penalty and scored a classic freekick to end the game 2-1 in favour of the Stars and Stripes.